Pant: Closer Ties Between S Asian Nations Must

South Asia should take advantage of complementarities to strengthen the economic identity of the region, said K C Pant, deputy chairman of the Planning commission. World over, regional bodies have played an important role in strengthening the economic identity of the regions, developing economies of scale and creating markets, he said.

Speaking at the launch of the South Asia Economic Journal, Pant said globalisation called for mutual cooperation and integration of the South Asian countries.

"Their interests and approach coincide on a number of issues like World Trade Organisation, biodiversity and environmental concerns," he said.

The incentive to integrate becomes greater due to increasing international competitiveness which is further fuelled by the information technology revolution and the certainty of the rapid growth of commerce, he added.

 

South Asian nations can control a large section of the world market, he said. However, since the funnels are controlled by large countries, members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) are unable to reap the benefits.

Pointing to the rapid changes, he said these regional bodies should together have a `Vision for the year 2020' and the journal should bring out not only the advantages of cooperation, but also the disadvantages of non-cooperation. Speaking on the occasion, minister of state for external affairs Ajit Panja said India had always stated that economic cooperation was crucial for progress and human welfare.

"Regional cooperation can speed up economic growth by working on a free trade area, a common investment regime and harmonised trade facilitating standards," he added.

India supported the creation of a South Asian Free Trade Area (Safta) and increased the ceiling for overseas investment by Indian corporates in South Asia to $30 million, he added

Research and Information Systems vice-president I P Singh said Saarc countries have the world's largest population and the largest-trained manpower.

"We have the world's largest contiguous middle class market and the largest middle class in the global context with average per capita incomes which buys the products of the developed countries," he added.